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Engineering Mechanics (ME-221)

This document provides an overview of the Engineering Mechanics course ME-221. It will cover statics and dynamics using the textbook "Vector Mechanics for Engineers" by Beer and Johnston. The first chapter introduces mechanics, fundamental concepts like space, time and mass, Newton's laws of motion, systems of units, the method for solving mechanics problems, and ensuring numerical accuracy. Mechanics is the foundation for engineering and explains physical phenomena to enable engineering applications.

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Rana Muhammad Usman
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
51 views

Engineering Mechanics (ME-221)

This document provides an overview of the Engineering Mechanics course ME-221. It will cover statics and dynamics using the textbook "Vector Mechanics for Engineers" by Beer and Johnston. The first chapter introduces mechanics, fundamental concepts like space, time and mass, Newton's laws of motion, systems of units, the method for solving mechanics problems, and ensuring numerical accuracy. Mechanics is the foundation for engineering and explains physical phenomena to enable engineering applications.

Uploaded by

Rana Muhammad Usman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Engineering Mechanics (ME-221)

• Book: Vector Mechanics for Engineers Statics


and dynamics By: Beer & Johnston
• Chapter # 1: Introduction
Contents
What is Mechanics?
Fundamental Concepts
Fundamental Principles
Systems of Units
Method of Problem Solution
Numerical Accuracy

1-2
What is Mechanics?
• Mechanics is the science which describes and predicts the
conditions of rest or motion of bodies under the action of forces.
• Categories of Mechanics:
- Rigid bodies
- Statics
- Dynamics
- Deformable bodies: Mechanics
of Materials
- Fluids: Incompressible and
compressible
• Mechanics is an applied science - it is not an abstract
or pure science but does not have the empiricism
found in other engineering sciences.
• Mechanics is the foundation of most engineering sciences and is an
indispensable prerequisite to their study.
• The purpose of mechanics is to explain and predict physical
phenomena and thus to lay the foundations for engineering 1-3

applications
Fundamental Concepts
• Space - associated with the notion of the position of a point P given in
terms of three coordinates measured from a reference point or origin.

• Time - definition of an event requires specification of the time and


position at which it occurred.

• Mass - used to characterize and compare bodies, e.g., response to


earth’s gravitational attraction and resistance to changes in
translational motion.

• Force - represents the action of one body on another. A force is


characterized by its point of application, magnitude, and direction, i.e.,
a force is a vector quantity.

In Newtonian Mechanics, space, time, and mass are absolute concepts,


independent of each other. Force, however, is not independent of the other
three. The force acting on a body is related to the mass of the body and the
variation of its velocity with time.
1-4
Fundamental Principles
• Newton’s First Law: If the resultant force on a
particle is zero, the particle will remain at rest
or continue to move in a straight line.

• Newton’s Second Law: A particle will have


an acceleration proportional to a nonzero
• Parallelogram Law resultant applied force.
 
F  ma
• Newton’s Third Law: The forces of action and
reaction between two particles have the same
magnitude and line of action with opposite
sense.

• Newton’s Law of Gravitation: Two particles


are attracted with equal and opposite forces,
• Principle of Transmissibility Mm GM
F G 2 W  mg , g  2
r R 1-5
Systems of Units
• International System of Units (SI):
The basic units are length, time, and
mass which are arbitrarily defined as the
• Kinetic Units: length, time, mass, meter (m), second (s), and kilogram
and force. (kg). Force is the derived unit,
F  ma
• Three of the kinetic units, referred to  m
as basic units, may be defined
 
1 N  1 kg 1 2 
 s 
arbitrarily. The fourth unit, referred
to as a derived unit, must have a • U.S. Customary Units:
definition compatible with Newton’s The basic units are length, time, and
2nd Law, force which are arbitrarily defined as the
  foot (ft), second (s), and pound (lb).
F  ma Mass is the derived unit,
F
m
a
1lb
1slug 
1ft s
1-6
Method of Problem Solution
• Problem Statement: • Solution Check:
Includes given data, specification of - Test for errors in reasoning by
what is to be determined, and a verifying that the units of the
figure showing all quantities computed results are correct,
involved. - test for errors in computation by
• Free-Body Diagrams: substituting given data and computed
Create separate diagrams for each of results into previously unused
the bodies involved with a clear equations based on the six principles,
indication of all forces acting on - always apply experience and physical
each body. intuition to assess whether results
• Fundamental Principles: seem “reasonable”
The six fundamental principles are
applied to express the conditions of
rest or motion of each body. The
rules of algebra are applied to solve
the equations for the unknown
quantities.
1-7
Numerical Accuracy
• The accuracy of a solution depends on 1) accuracy of the given
data, and 2) accuracy of the computations performed. The solution
cannot be more accurate than the less accurate of these two.

• The use of hand calculators and computers generally makes the


accuracy of the computations much greater than the accuracy of the
data. Hence, the solution accuracy is usually limited by the data
accuracy.

• As a general rule for engineering problems, the data are seldom


known with an accuracy greater than 0.2%. Therefore, it is usually
appropriate to record parameters beginning with “1” with four digits
and with three digits in all other cases, i.e., 40.2 lb and 15.58 lb.

1-8

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